No Time To Sleep
by sergeantking
Summary: How far, how long, how hard would you be willing to go to rescue someone you've never met? How much would you be willing to risk?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_"No Masters or Kings_

_When the Ritual begins  
>There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin"<em>

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><p><em>Since when did an ugly, red button down blouse on the clearance rack cost more than a weekly food budget? <em>Was the first thought in Kate's mind as she shoved the cloth hangar back on the metal pole. _The cloth hangar should've been a dead give a way, _was the thought immediately after, which followed her out of the women's section of the ridiculously large department store.

She picked her way over to the shoes and accessories area, a nice pair of 4-inch heel boots catching her eye, which while impractical, came in three different colors. The white sticker on the heel of boot told her all she needed to know as she set it back on the display, huffing to herself and pushing a stray hair back in place.

In all honesty, she knew she couldn't afford anything in this place, but after she had don three loads of laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, vacuumed, and made her bed, there was little else to do at her apartment and she was going stir crazy. What had she even done before she'd gotten on to the force? Every day off now seemed to drag through in slow motion, and growing restless happened earlier and earlier until now she was barely in to 11 o'clock in the morning and here she was wandering aimlessly through the expensive tastes of a salary far higher than her own. At least she was due back at the precinct at 7:00 tomorrow, meaning she'd show up at a prompt 6:00, giving her ample time for a morning run and shower before the archives and then parade.

Her fingers tripped in running over the leather of a purse as she thought of the archive room and her mom's file. She was going to have to be more careful in how much time she spent down there, and when, as she'd almost gotten caught the other day, but luckily it was early enough that the guy never even looked up from his cup of coffee, much less through the shelves. Early had seemed like the best time, but maybe late in to the night shift would be a better choice, she could always just head straight there after shift. Not even a year on the force and she'd already spent more time down in that room than at her own apartment, which was small, but slowly becoming home.

Just as her phone went off from the depths of her bag, her shoulder smashed in to a man speed walking in the opposite direction, by the time her phone was in her hand, he was already gone too fast to apologize. She shrugged and glanced down at the caller ID, cringing when she saw the name 'DAD' flash on the screen.

For two seconds she stared at the phone, hesitating whether or not to answer it, not knowing which version of him she would find on the other line. But the guilt of the three weeks of space ate away at her conscience until she flipped open the phone.

"Dad?" Her voice didn't sound very confident, even to her own ears, and she was still having trouble learning how to distance herself, so she cleared her throat and tried again, "Hello?"

There was a rustling sound at the end of the line, but then a gruff, "Katie, hi." Responded back and she had her answer. He sounded hung over. Really hung over.

"What's up, Dad?" She was almost out of the department store at this point, passing the perfume bottles and make up stylists, debating whether or not to take this call out in to the rest of the mall, or out in to the parking lot.

"I was just wondering if you had any plans for your birthday, I know it's coming up in a couple weeks, and just wanted to…" he trailed off in to a cough and then silence, but she had already stopped in her tracks the minute he'd brought up the word "birthday", feeling her entire body seize up. Definitely a parking lot talk, then.

She brought her fingers up to rub at her eyebrow, "I—I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it." There was an uncomfortable pause as she slowed down her brisk walk to the exit doors, "I mean, I haven't gotten my schedule yet, and I'm probably going to be on shift anyways."

"No, yeah, right, of course. I wasn't even thinking about your work schedule." She cringed at the forced light tone in his voice; she hated hurting his feelings like this, "Look, don't worry about it, I just wanted to make sure you had plans or something."

Despite everything that had happened, his concern still brought a small smile to her face, and she looked down at the display of blue jeans on the table next to the aisle, "Yeah, I will keep you in the loop, though, once I get my schedule. Maybe we can grab lunch, or coffee."

"I'd like that, Katie." She had to swallow the lump that appeared in her throat at the use of the nickname, again, "And I promise I'll show up this time, I've really had my last drink." His tone was too joking for her to take him serious, and it sobered her mood pretty fast.

There had been lots of talk and lots of promises, the talk mainly being on her side and the promises mainly on his, but that's all it really was. She was the one who usually did all the yelling, accusing him of drinking too much, but he still refused to really admit that he had a problem, always claiming the clichéd, 'I can stop whenever I want to'.

Still, she took in a sharp breath and injected a lightness in her voice that she did not feel, "Sure, Dad, I'm happy to hear that. I'll give you a call when I have a more concrete plan and we can set everything up then, okay?"

"That sounds great, Katie. I'll talk to you soon, be safe." The relief in his voice only gave her a moment of hope before the dial tone sounding in her ear filled her full of dread again.

Truly, it wasn't that she didn't want to spend some time with her dad, but the past few years had been rough on their relationship, with her mom's death and then his turn to alcohol, there hasn't been a lot of family quality time. The full force hit her that she'd be 24 in a couple of weeks, and then come January it'll have been a full five years since her mother was murdered.

She was swiftly brought out of her train of thought by the sound of footsteps rushing towards her. Turning quickly, she just barely side stepped the same man that she bumped in to earlier as he ran by her, coat flapping behind him. For a brief moment it sounded like he was yelling something, but then he turned the corner and was gone.

There was a second where she considered going after him and seeing what was wrong, seeing if she could help, but she didn't even know if anything really was wrong and the second was over.

Shrugging her coat on even more and bracing herself for the chill of November in New York, she pushed open the double glass doors and stepped out in to the parking lot, parking garage, really. The walk to the stairs was a short one, and she had only parked one level up, so she made her way to the rusted metal teal doors when a sudden thud echoed through the lot. Immediately, the clack of her heels stopped, and the dead silence put the hairs on the back of her neck on end, her cop instinct on high alert.

Suddenly, a muffled yell reached her ears from around the corner and she took off at a dead sprint, cursing the fact that she hadn't filled out the paperwork to bring her piece home with her. A yelp of pain was heard, and then a high-pitched scream followed quickly after, the kind of scream that sounded like a little girl. Kate pushed her legs faster, the whispered thought of, _fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck_, the only thing that her mind could come up with as she whipped around the corner.

Her stomach churned at the sight that reached her, and she almost felt dizzy at the sight of it. There, in the middle of the roadway of the garage was a large black van, brights glaring in to the hazy yellow light of the garage, two men in masks standing before the open back doors. That wasn't what made her freeze though. What made her freeze was the bright tinge of orange hair that stood between the two men, tears quickly spilling over her eyes as the men grappled to cover her mouth again.

The whole pause took maybe a half second for her to compose herself before she started running towards them again, "FREEZE, POLICE!" already being yelled at the top of her lungs.

One of the men shoved the girl, who couldn't have been more than ten, towards his counterpart, turning instead to face her. He was not prepared for her rage though, and she barely had to pause for the full weight of her front kick she did to this man's stomach, hips thrust forward with the kick and he doubled over and flew backwards, landing on his ass with a grunt and a whoosh of air.

The other man was still pulling the little girl towards the van, who had resumed her kicking and thrashing, attempting to get him to loosen his hold. Kate made her way to them with two longs strides and delivered a right hook to the side of the masked man's face, hearing a satisfying crack that echoed. He was only down for a couple seconds before he threw himself back around, only one arm around the girl's neck now as he aimed for Kate's nose. She dodged at the last second, the blow glancing over her cheek bone instead which immediately began to throb.

The girl had picked up her screaming again, now that the captor no longer had a hand over her mouth, and Kate took the moment to deliver a swift kick to the front of his kneecap and a palm heel strike to his nose. The snap of his nose was enough to make the man release his hold on the child, one hand coming up to try and block the flow of blood on his face as he attempted to orient himself. He didn't need long though, and the underhanded punch that landed on her stomach sent the air out of her, bending over at the waist in attempt to suck in a breath.

She saw the girl standing off to the side, the bright orange hair like a beacon that drew her attention. She wasn't moving anywhere, instead she seemed frozen to the spot, staring at Kate before she could scream, "BEHIND YOU!"

The second man, who she'd forgotten about, came crashing in behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle and effectively locking her arms to the side of her body. The first male captor sprang at her then, blood still gushing from his nose and she threw out her feet in a kick that landed closer to his shoulder than she would've wanted, but it still caused him to stumble back.

"GO!" She could see the girl still hesitant to move, as if debating whether or not she could leave Kate in this situation, but her voice seemed to compel her in to action, "GO, NOW!" Kate barely had time to get it out before a punch slammed in to her face, her vision going black around the edges.

She knew in two seconds the man whose arms she was currently not wrapped in, the one who had just punched her it seems, was going to go after the child, and was going to catch her. Knowing she had one shot at this, she pushed her head forward before slamming it back, trying to catch as much of the man's face as possible. She felt the contact burst through the back of her head and the pain settled right behind her eyeballs, but he released his hold and she barreled forward, aiming a punch at the other man who was turned to run after the little girl. The punch was glancing, though, and the next thing she knew he had caught hold of one of her arms and she felt the sting of metal as something whipped across the side of her head.

Kate couldn't control her body's crumple to the ground, and the voices of the men were muffled and foggy as it came to her through a haze.

"What are we going to do now? The boss sent us after fresh meat and we only got a half hour before we got to be back! She woulda –"

The voice faded as her vision went black, but another voice pricked back in at her conscious as she tried to lift her arms.

"Shut up! I know, I know."

"What are we going to do, Gem?"

"Just give me a second to think."

"We could just take her. She gave us hell anyways." At this she felt the toe of a boot prodding painfully in to her side, she attempted to kick out at it, but felt her legs just twitch in response.

"Are you shitting me? She said she was a cop!"

"Yeah, but she could have been lying, just saying that to scare us."

There was a long silence that caused Kate to suck in a raspy breath.

"OK, yeah, sure, let's load her in the truck."

Suddenly, she felt two sets of hands on her, one under her armpits and the other wrapped around her legs, lifting her off the ground. Again, she attempted to move, to do something, the state of panic she was in rising out of control as she felt herself being carried. The panic level kicked her adrenaline in to full gear and her eyes flew open, wide and terrified, her body merely shook though in an attempt to struggle, pain flashing across the side of her skull.

Whichever man gripping under her arms nearly dropped her in shock, jostling her head and making her see spots, "Holy fuck man, she's still awake."

Her legs dropped to the ground like dead weight, and if she could just get them to cooperate and get them under her, she could get control of the situation again. There was a brief rustle she heard somewhere to her left before the sharp sting of pain in her neck, and then everything was going upside down and black.

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><p><em>AN - So here's my first fic, and I already have the plan for where I want the story to go, I just hope that I am able to write it well enough. I'm also looking for any betas who would be willing to read the chapters before they come out, just to make sure they make sense. Other than that, here we go. <em>

_Disclaimer - characters are copyright of Castle and it's creators, the song lyrics at the beginning are copyright to Hozier _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_"You say it's money that we need_  
><em>As if we're only mouths to feed<em>  
><em>I know no matter what you say<em>  
><em>There are some debts you'll never pay"<em>

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><p>Richard Castle was a raging tornado mess of a man.<p>

She had been here, she had been _right here_, and then the next minute, she was gone. He was having serious déjà vu and couldn't help himself from checking in every single rack of coats, jeans, shirts, anywhere that she could hide, even though she was a little old for those games now.

He swears to whatever gods there are that she was _right_ there. He had already gotten all of the security guards involved, and he had, no doubt, scared more than a few of the customers shopping in the store, but he couldn't give a tiny rat's ass. There are several moments where he almost ran people down in his mad dash around the rather empty department store. He does accidentally trip an older man at some point, and he definitely slams shoulders with someone, but it doesn't matter at all.

Where is she?

He keeps thinking back to this morning, when they were gathered around the kitchen island and she was talking about school and it was almost Christmas break and how she would have all this free time during the holiday to read. His coffee was perched on the counter in between them as he made her breakfast – waffles – and she prattled on about all the books she was going to read.

_"__Think you'll get around to reading my new book on this wonderful reading list of your's?" He had grinned, flipping over the waffle iron and continuing to peel the oranges to go along with them._

_She had rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion, "Dad, you know I can't read those books yet, they're not suitable for kids."_

_"__Wow," The waffle timer buzzed and he flipped it back over, opened the lid, and pulled the freshly made waffle out on to a plate, licking his fingers as he poured on an obscene amount of syrup, "I'm surprised you even referred to yourself as a kid, you're more like a tiny lawyer. You even used the word 'suitable'!" _

_Alexis giggled as he set the plate down in front of her, and she leered up at him with a smile, "Dad, the oranges? I need at least some sustenance."_

_Castle put a hand over his heart in a dramatic manner, placing the oranges next to her plate, "Goodness, how could I have forgotten?"_

_They both laughed, and he brought his cup up to his lips and—_

A blood curdling scream filled the air and abruptly cut off his flashback.

He whipped towards its direction as did several others in the store, and it was only then did he realize that the scream wasn't just a scream, but a word.

_Dad._

Castle jumped in to action, leaping forward and sprinting off in the direction of his daughter, tears welling in his eyes. Skidding around one corner, the yell got extremely louder, and he heard someone trying to calm the girl down. When he turned left, his vision blurred slightly as he laid eyes on his daughter, standing amidst a crowd of three or four people, face red and blotchy, a cut on her lip and a bruise forming over her left eye, but alive and whole.

The second she saw him she burst forth from the small group and ran in to his arms, where he willingly caught her and swung her up, shoving his face in to her hair.

"Oh god, oh thank god, Alexis you're safe. Oh shit, oh thank you." He was muttering in to her neck, her screams had turned in to sobs that he accepted willingly on to the shoulder of his wool coat.

The small crowd had mainly dispersed, the old man whom he is pretty sure is the one he knocked in to, has a soft smile on his face as he walks away. All he can do and think about is cradling his daughter against his chest, softly stroking her hair as she continues to sob. The security guards are there now, telling him how lucky he is to have found her and how bad the situation could have been, but it's all merely background noise to him, and nothing he doesn't already know.

Both guards stay hovering around him at a small distance, obviously wanting to know what happened, and in all honesty, he would like to know that as well. After the last time this happened, he made sure to have a long talk with her about leaving him in public places, and that if she ever got bored or wanted to leave, she just needed to talk to him. Someone had obviously tried to take her, judging by her screams and her wounds.

Gently, he tried to pull her back a little to look at her face, but she merely clung to his shoulder tighter, wrapping her skinny little legs around his waist as tight as she probably could, clinging to him like the koala bears they saw in the zoo a couple weeks ago.

"Alexis, honey," He stroked through her hair again, eyes closed as he inhaled her clean, fruity scent that had the undertone of fear and adrenaline to it, "Honey, you've got to tell me what happened."

The guards have taken two small steps forward, hoping to hear this part, and there are still a few people milling about on the outskirts, watching the terrified father and daughter reunited.

"Please, Lex, what happened, baby?" His voice is soft in her ear and for her only, his hand still carding through her ginger hair.

Finally, her heartbreaking, loud sobs turn in to whines and hiccups, her grip slowly loosening on his jacket, but her legs stay tight wrapped around him. He let her take a couple deep breaths, hiccups and tremors still wracking her body as she leans back to look in his eyes, her tiny hands wrapping around his neck. She may be ten years old, but at this moment, he could swear she looks five again.

Her face is incredibly red, and he runs his thumb along the edge of the bruise on her forehead, cupping her skull in his hand. Her bottom lip is trembling and she is still taking deep breaths, trying to garner enough calm to get words out of her system. Lifting her sleeve, she wipes away some of the snot and tears that are on her face, looking in to his eyes with great fear, her eyes suddenly wide.

"I had only t-t-taken a couple steps away from you, Daddy," she takes a pause to take in another rattling breath, before continuing, "Then there were these men in the store, they each grabbed one of my hands and told me I had to go with them."

Castle's grip on his daughter tightened as she sniffled, her voice still trembling as she told the story, "But I know you told me not to go anywhere with anyone, so when I tried to tell them "no", they started pulling me out of the store really, really fast, and I couldn't yell for you, and-" at this point she dissolved in to tears again and Castle hugged her to him.

"It's okay, it's alright, you're safe now." He whispered to her, hating to see her so upset and traumatized, but so thankful that she was here to be that way.

Abruptly, she pulled back out of his embrace, almost causing him to lose his hold on her, her wide blue eyes catching his, "We have to help her, Dad!"

She was now wriggling out of his embrace, and she wasn't small enough anymore to just hold on to her, so he gently set her down, holding on to her shoulders as she tried to run, "Wait, Alexis, honey, who? Help who?"

One of the guards had already left to call in what had happened to the police, while the other took a step forward as she continued to look wild eyed at her father.

"The lady! The one who saved me from the men!" Alexis exclaimed, looking from her dad to the guard now, who was calling the other man back over who was still on the phone with the cops.

Rick felt frozen in place, hearing her say the words "saved me" just struck him smack in the face again about how close he had come to losing her. Taking a deep breath in, he loosened his hold on Alexis's shoulders, convinced she wasn't going to try and run off again.

"What are you talking about? What lady?" He was trying to calm his own voice down so as not to further scare his kid, but he was still pretty shaken up and seeing her so worked up was certainly not helping.

"When the men took me out in the parking garage, they put masks on over their faces and started dragging me to their van, and when I tried to scream for help they covered my mouth and kept telling me to be quiet or else!" She was trembling now, the fear large in her eyes, but she pressed on, "Then, out of nowhere, there was this tall lady who screamed that she was the police and came running at the guys!"

Rick's eyes were the ones wide now, thanking his lucky stars and all other beings in the universe that someone had been out there to help his little girl. He was snapped out of his reverie when he realized that Alexis was still talking animatedly, now looking madly back and forth between him and the guards, "They started fighting and she was beating them off, she got the guy to let go of me, but they teamed up against her and one guy was holding her and the other was hitting her, but she told me to run, so I did!"

Suddenly, everything changed, Castle's face blanched just as the guards sprang in to action, both bolting for the parking garage as they screaming in to their radio, the other still on the phone with dispatch. Seeing that Alexis was quick to follow the guards to help, Castle scooped her up in his arms again and dashed off after them.

Pushing out through the double doors with Alexis in his arms, he followed the bodies of the guards as they rounded the corner, feeling his little girl curl against him a little tighter.

Rounding the corner, he almost wished he hadn't brought Alexis, that somehow he could've left her back with the sweet old man and she wouldn't have to relive this. Strangely, though, when they took in the scene, Alexis was the one who perked up, looking around in a desperate frenzy, while Rick took it in with horror.

There were two black, thick tire treads where the car had obviously peeled out in a hurry, but the most striking thing was that there were several puddles of blood on the ground that made Castle sick to his stomach. However, one very important thing not present at the scene, that had Alexis squirming around, was hard to miss.

"Where is she?" She questioned, turning about in his arms and then looking at him as if he should have the answers, "Where is she, Daddy?" The rise in her voice was inclined towards panic, and the two guards looked at each other with grief on their faces.

"Where is she!?" Her tone had turned to one of horror, drawing one of the security guards over to the pair of them while the other left to direct the arriving officers where to go in the garage.

The man looked apologetically between the two of them, and then settled his eyes on Castle, "We'll have to check the security cameras to make absolutely certain of what happened, but it seems…" He trailed off, glancing at Alexis's heart stricken face, but they both understood the context.

"They took her, instead?" Her voice was small and tiny, now trembling with tears, again. Castle clutched his daughter to him, but he didn't know what to say, how to comfort her. He owed this woman his life, and now she had taken his daughter's place. When they find her, he would thank her for the rest of his life, anything she ever wanted.

The guard pursed his lips silently, turning to walk back to the scene of the crime as the wail of sirens pulled up, several officers exiting out of the vehicles. One of the patrol cops headed over to the guard, scratching his head, both were still within earshot of the father, daughter pair.

"So, you said we got an officer taken? Do you know who?" The officer who had asked the question looked to the guard, who shook his head and then gestured over to Castle and Alexis.

"No, there's only one witness, and she's the one that they were originally after. It looks like when she interrupted the kidnapping; they took her instead, which is strange." The guard shook his head again, and shrugged, while the officer thanking him and then walked over towards the duo.

Rick's head was now rolling with the word 'kidnap', and he told himself that he refused to be sick at a crime scene. The cop nodded his head as he stopped in front of them, glancing back and forth with kind eyes.

"So, I hear that one of you may have been a witness." His eyes landed on Alexis, who gave him a very solemn, yet polite nod, sniffling back her tears, "My name is Officer Thompson, but you can call me Pete. I'm going to need to take your statement, you feel up for it?"

Alexis nodded again, and gestured to her father that she wanted to be set down, and then she looked up at the officer who had knelt in front of her, "Will it help get her back?"

Pete smiled at her, "It will certainly help."

She glanced up at her Dad first, who still had a comforting hand on her shoulder, before she looked back at the police officer and gave a solemn nod.

Officer Thompson stood up and placed a hand on Alexis's shoulder blade, "Let's go over and sit in the squad car, I'll even let you play with the lights, if you want."

Castle let his hand trail on her shoulder as she walked away as long as he could reach her, not wanting to let her out of his sight, but at least knowing she was safe, what with the twenty something police officers crawling around here.

His mind was going non-stop, couldn't quiet it down even if he tried, something about this just didn't make any sense. It was the writer in him, he knew, he just needed to figure out the story. What kind of kidnappers would turn around after a botched job and take a grown woman instead? Nothing about it made any sense.

He lifted a hand up to scrub over his face, he could feel the weary lines that had creased his skin that hadn't seemed to be able to settle yet, even though he could see the bright orange hair of his daughter in the passenger seat of the closest squad car.

Fresh lights flashed up the scene as another squad car pulled in, parking a little far off to the right, and out stepped yet another man donned in a patrol uniform, but Castle recognized a little more of a seasoned look about him. The cop made his way over to a small huddle that had formed at the crime scene, where they watched the crime tech people mull about, but then after a moment, they pointed him in the direction of the security guards and he walked towards them. Castle watched with something like intrigue as the cop shook the hands of the security guards and began to talk, he could barely make out what they were saying, but he saw no harm in eavesdropping.

"So, give me the run down." The officer had a sense of calm that Rick himself certainly did not feel, and admired, but then again, he supposed that is his job.

"There was an attempted kidnap of a little girl, who she says a woman intervened, yelled out she was the police and then fought the two guys. Little girl was able to get away, but from the looks of it, they took the woman instead." The security guard's description of what happened was brief and distant, the father in him still shuddered at the thought, but the writer was somewhat desperate for the story.

"Odd." The cop echoed his sentiment while he took in the crime scene, "I'll need to look at the security footage to get a better look at what we've got here."

Both of the guards gave him a brisk nod, but one of them spoke up, "The little girl said that the guys didn't have their masks on yet when they took her from the store, so we might need her for ID." He gestured to Castle and then to Alexis, who was just getting out of the squad car with Thompson not too far behind.

The cop nodded and began to walk over to where Castle was standing, his daughter reaching him moments before and already had him in a tight hug.

The officer nodded to both of them, addressing both Alexis and Rick as he spoke, "We're going to have the security footage pulled from inside the store, and out here in the garage." The next part he spoke only to Alexis as he pushed his hands in his jacket pockets, "Hon, we might need you to tell us which guys in the store tried to grab you, depending on the look we get at their faces, but I promise that you won't have to watch a lot."

Alexis was already nodding, determined now to help in any way she could, while Castle stood slightly thrilled to see the security footage. With his daughter safely by his side, holding his hand, he hoped to be able to witness the story of it all, instead of just the terror, he wanted to help as much as he could, too, whatever he could.

"If you guys will just follow me, we'll take you inside to the security room to have a look." The cop gave them a smile, trying to set the both of them at ease, before he quickly pulled one hand out of his pocket and thrust it towards them, "I'm Royce, by the way, Officer Royce, but we can just stick with Mike, if that's alright by you." He said, shaking first Alexis's hand, and then Rick's, "Let's head in."

About a half hour later, the tapes were pulled up in the security room, and Alexis was just being placed in to the swivel chair up front as they hit play. Castle could see himself milling about in the coat section, while Alexis wandered a little closer to the aisle, running her hand along the sleeves of the coats.

At the bottom right of the screen, two men appeared, only the backs of their heads visible to the camera, but she quickly pointed her finger to the screen, her body tense, "That's them."

Royce, who had not left Alexis's side the entire time, even grabbed her a coke from the vending machine, nodded, "Good, thanks, that's really helpful."

Alexis gave a small smile back towards Rick, who gave her one back in encouragement. Royce was still intently studying the screen, a crease forming on his forehead as he watched the men speak to Alexis and then begin to lead her out of the store.

Quickly giving up her seat once she saw the tape had progressed, Alexis went to the back and stand by Rick, whose eyes were still transfixed on the screen. With no audio, there was no way to make out what they were saying, but Royce lightly slapped the table, hand coming up to his mouth.

"They know where the cameras are." He muttered, mostly to himself, as they watched the two men begin to swiftly drag Alexis out of the store and in to the parking garage, never once showing their faces to the swiveling camera.

Castle held his breath as they jumped to the tape inside the garage, feeling Alexis turn her head to bury in his coat. He wrapped a protective hand around the back of her skull as he watched a black van pull out of its parking space and position itself in the middle of the road, tinted windows not allowing a view of the driver. By the time the two men rounded the corner in the tape with Alexis, their masks were already donned, so they no longer had to worry about camera position as one of them pulled open the doors and went back for Alexis and his partner.

The man whose hand was covering her face got a sharp surprise as she twisted her head around and bit down on his hand. He recoiled back just enough to allow Alexis to open her mouth and let out, what Castle had no doubt, was a blood curdling scream.

Not three seconds later did she appear. A woman sprinted in to frame, her back to the camera as she charged towards the first man, delivering a swift kick and then dealing with the second man, a nice punch to the jaw. Rick's eyes were wide, watching the brown hair of her ponytail swing wildly as she dodged a punch, taking out the guy's knee, and then breaking his nose. When the man released Alexis, the woman's face came in to brief profile, and all of a sudden Royce was pressed against the screen, eyes huge. The two other officers in the room also gathered a little closer as the tape played on, the man who had been on the ground dragging himself up and then flinging himself at the woman, ensnaring her in his arms.

At this point, the woman turned her face to look at Alexis, who was still standing off to the side, and opened her mouth to yell to her when the resounding crack and shatter of the ceramic filled the room. Alexis jumped, and even Rick couldn't suppress his shock at the outburst; Royce's head now in his hands as the mug he threw rested in pieces near the wall.

"It's Beckett." Royce pulled his head up to look at his fellow officers in the room, his lips in a tight, white line against his face, "It's Kate Beckett."

Castle forced his eyes away from the distraught officer long enough to look back at the video, still playing, and see one of the men get a hold of the woman—Kate's arm, while the other pistol whipped her across the side of the head. Mike grunted as he watched her body crumble to the ground, every eye in the room now fixated on the screen.

They watched the men deliberate, talking over her, and Castle felt everything in his stomach seize up as they bent down to pull her body up from the street. She twitched on screen though, obviously still conscious and Rick let out a breath of relief, until he saw the guy drop her legs and pull a syringe out of his pocket and plunge it in to her neck, her body going limp as it was place in the back of the van. One of the guys pulled a roll of duct tape out from a bag on the floor of the car, and began wrapping her wrists and ankles while the other man walked over to the driver's window.

The angle was still wrong to see whoever was in the vehicle, but as the man outside and them obviously exchanged words about the situation, his hand reached back and swiftly pulled off his own mask, the other hand coming up to rub down his hair.

Royce paused the footage, a barely repressed, "Fuck," hissing out of his mouth, his hands coming up to rub at his eyes, "fuck, fuck, _shit._"

Alexis had turned herself around in his arms at these words, but everyone in the room was still silent, until Castle couldn't take it anymore, "Who are they?"

Mike lifted himself from his hands, one of the officers in the room already radioing in to dispatch, but Castle watched as Royce placed his index finger on the screen, never once turning his head, "They're traffickers." His finger slid down the screen as Castle felt his stomach roll with nausea.

Everything crashed down around him as Royce confirmed the horrifying reality in his head, "They're known human traffickers."

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><p><em>AN - So, here's chapter 2, I already had most of it written yesterday when I first posted the story, and didn't have too much to finish up today. Plus, I'm avoiding studying for a test I have tomorrow morning, so there's always that. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and followed, and are just reading the story. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, and I appreciate those who do. <em>

_Yes, this is going to be a human trafficking story, and I hope everyone likes where I will take it, but I will say in advance that there will be NO rape scenes, that I can promise, so there are no worries there. As for the subject matter, I have actually spent a good deal of one of my classes researching and talking about human trafficking, but, while I will try and keep the story as realistic and factual as possible, there are some things I am bound to get wrong. Other than that, I really hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, and continue to enjoy it!_

_Disclaimer - the characters belong to Castle and its creators, the song lyrics at the beginning belong to Arcade Fire_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_"This air between us is getting thinner now_  
><em>Into winter now. Bitter sweet<em>  
><em>And 'cross that horizon this sun is setting down<em>  
><em>You're forgetting now, it's time you let me go, let me go"<em>

* * *

><p>The darkness behind her eyelids was spinning, and she was pretty certain that she was going to be sick. How much did she have to drink last night? Everything was fuzzy, memories playing across her mind like the first run of a bad silent film. What time was it? Did she even drink anything last night?<p>

The onslaught of something wet, hard, and cold underneath her body came suddenly rushing through her nerve points, and she had to swallow the bout of nausea that hit her again. Now that she was slightly more aware, she could feel her head pounding behind her eyelids, and the cold made her take stock of her body. The throbbing inside her head began to ache as she became more alert, her cheek was sore, and her arms felt thoroughly stretched, maybe even a pulled muscle or two in her biceps.

Okay, it was time to open her eyes, because something sure as hell wasn't right. Narrowing eyes in to slits made her head throb harder, but she pushed through it, blinking until she managed to start taking in her surroundings.

Her situation did not get any better as she chanced a look around. She recognized the dank, musty smell of a basement, and looking around only confirmed her suspicion. There were two sole windows, high up on the wall that were frosted glass and barred, but at least let in a little light. The walls were concrete with water stains covering most of them, floor was made of concrete too, and the only way out Kate could see was a pair of wooden stairs against the far side wall leading up, past sight, to what she assumed was a locked door. Probably reinforced.

What really chilled her were the ceiling high chain link fences that stretched through the room, cutting the basement in to sections. It made her think back to the one time her parents had indulged her as a kid and took her to an animal shelter where all of the dogs had their own caged sections. It made her shiver.

Forcing her arms and hands under her body, she slowly pushed herself up, groaning as her head exploded with pain from the movement. She reached up a hand to tenderly touch the side of her head, coming away with crusted blood on her fingertips. At least it wasn't still bleeding. Everything spun once she sat upright, and she scratched at an irritating itch on her neck before taking a better look around.

That's when she noticed them. Three little girls huddled off to the side in the cage across from her, cowering in one of the corners. The group consisted of an older girl, probably around 11 or 12, and two younger girls, maybe 6 or 7. Kate's stomach churned, and she pulled herself over to the chain link, clinging on to it with one hand for support.

"Hey," her throat was raspy and raw, and she cleared it before she spoke again, although it didn't really help, "Are you girls alright? Are you hurt?"

The two youngest shrunk back, but the older girl only hesitated before shaking her head, yet Kate felt none of the tension leave her body. Because this was not a good situation to be in, and if they weren't hurt now, they most likely would be later, unless she could get them out.

Kate pushed her feet under her body and used the fence to pull herself up, her arms ached in protest, but then she was up and made her way over to the single door in her own fence. The chain wrapped around the door and the frame was hard to miss, with a single combination lock hanging off the two ends, but it didn't stop her from giving an experimental tug. The clanging of metal was loud in the dead silence of the basement, and it immediately had the older child in the other cage on her feet, a finger over her lips, eyes wide.

"It's okay," Kate replied back in a rasp, but dropping the chain as quietly as she could, "I'm gonna try to get us out of here. Don't worry, I'm—"

Her words were interrupted by the bang of the door, light spilling in from upstairs and down to their dank room. The dull sound of footsteps reached them before the two men appeared; the two whom Kate could only presume were the ones who had taken her in the first place.

"Well, well, look who's finally awake." One of them sneered at her, his partner laughing in the background as he spit in to the cage with the little girls, who had gone back to their corner, the eldest in front.

The man in back looked like the dictionary definition for the word skeezeball, his cheeks covered in craters and cracks, a long black goatee, and unruly curly hair. His eyes were as dark as the oversized coat he had donned, and the holes in his jeans spoke of how kind the past few years had probably been to him.

However, the one who had spoken to her was different, a day's stubble rested on his face, but he was handsome, put together, and it made Kate uncomfortable. His brown hair was slicked back with an expensive gel, and his eyes were a bright brown, an interesting contrast to the dark blue blazer he wore. If Kate hadn't been on the police force this past year, she never would have thought that someone who looked like him could be involved in something like this. He was almost charming.

"What are we doing here? Who are you?" Were the words barely out of her sore throat before something crashed across the fence, sending her reeling backwards on to the floor.

"Hey! Filthy bitches don't get to ask the questions here!" It was the skeezeball who was yelling, a crowbar still clutched in his hand as he eyed her menacingly while his partner just grinned.

Her head was spinning again, and she didn't think she could get up with falling back down again, so she settled for leveling a glare at the handsome one, who seemed to be more in charge.

"We checked your wallet and found your ID," Charming said calmly, beginning to pace in front of her cage as if nothing had just happened, "And then we googled you, Ms. Katherine Beckett. Turns out, you were telling the truth, and are in fact on the police force. Part of the Academy graduating class of 2002."

"Exactly, so you don't want a kidnapped cop on your record. So just let me and the girls go, and then—" His chuckling disrupted her sentence, his partner just glaring at her through the chain link.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, _Officer_ Beckett." His face was still twisted in that sick grin, "The boss thinks that it will just hike up your price, make you more desirable to our more special clientele. Who wouldn't want to break a wild stallion's spirit? Fuck all that fight out of your eyes."

Kate thrust herself upwards, right in front of the cage and growled, "That'll be harder than you think." Then, with as much force as she could muster, she spat in his face.

Skeezeball growled and swung the crowbar up, ready to bring it down on the fence once more, but Charming merely held up a hand, calm as ever.

"Gem, why don't you go upstairs and check in with the boss, see what time he's coming in later." His hand reached up while he spoke, wiping the spit from his face and flicking it out on to the floor.

The partner, Gem apparently, grumbled, but trudged upstairs without another word. Kate heard his heavy footsteps and then the door click shut, Charming's eyes never leaving her own.

"I actually think controlling you is going to be my easiest job. Because any toe that you step out of line, anytime you make my life just that much harder," His face was level with her's at the cage, leaning closer with every word, "I'm going to take it out on the little ones, instead."

He didn't need to give any other indication than that, and Kate felt her resolve slowly crumbling as he laughed. However, just because she couldn't fight back, didn't mean she couldn't find a way to escape, and when she did, she would save all of them. So, she would play the part, she could do that.

His smirk grew as her shoulders slumped, and he even had the gall to give her a small nod of encouragement, "You know, we were upset, at first, that we had lost that little red haired girl." She felt her eye's snap up at the mention of the kid she'd saved, her hands curling in to fists.

"She would've been a real Sleeping Beauty, but now we think we really lucked out with grabbing an – _experienced_ woman, such as yourself." The hair's on the back of her arms stood on end, and she couldn't help the flow of nausea returning, "You might've done us a real favor."

With these last words uttered, Charming took a step away from the cage, and turned to finally follow his partner upstairs. But he paused on the steps, taking one last look at her before he would disappear, that fucking smile returning to his face.

"It's a shame you won't be staying with us too long. It's been a while since we picked up anyone as entertaining as you." He shrugged his shoulders though, very nonchalant, as he continued his way up the steps, "I'll think of you, though."

And then he was gone, and all she could do was wait.

Kate walked over and slumped against the wall facing the door and had a nice clean shot of the entire room. She turned her head to look over at the girls, only to find the eldest one already looking at her.

"You're a police officer?" The eldest asked her, head tilted to the side, eyes holding her gaze with a confidence that surprised Kate.

She was a really pretty girl, her dark skin glowed in the thin light from one of the high windows, and her hair was in a beautiful array of curls on her head. Her eyes were a deep brown that held great suspicion in them, which Kate tried to alleviate somewhat with a soft smile.

"Yeah, I am." The girl was still regarding her carefully, and Kate glanced back at the two children who were still behind her.

"They don't really speak any English, I figure. Otherwise, they're just too scared to say anything." She said, looking over to Kate as she placed a calming hand on one of the little girl's backs.

"If you're a police officer…" She trailed off a little, looking back over, "How did you get caught? Aren't you trained to not get caught?"

Kate nodded her head, and couldn't help the soft laugh that came out, "Yeah, yeah we are. But uh," She cleared her throat and turned to look back over the stairs, "They were trying to take this little girl, that red headed girl he was talking about, and I ran over to help. She got away but..." She gave a shrug though, and turned to look back at her, "I'm glad they took me in her place."

The little girl seemed to accept this with a nod, "That was brave of you."

She leaned her head gently against the wall as she looked over at them, and in place of responding, she looked at the two little ones again, "So, you don't know these two girls?"

The eldest shook her head, rubbing her hand up and down the closest's back, who had now curled up next to her, "No, but we all got picked up on the same day. And since I'm the oldest, I have to protect them, you know? Keep them safe as I can."

Kate felt her heart squeeze in her chest, "That's very brave of you."

The girl snapped her head up to look at Kate, who gave her a reassuring smile, "You can call me Kate, by the way."

A little grin slowly appeared on the girl's face, "Natasha, but my mom calls me Natalie."

"Okay, Natalie," Kate took in a deep breath of air, her head at least down to a dull ache now, "Why don't you guys get some sleep? It has to have been a while."

Natalie looked away at this, and it had Kate continuing, "I'll keep a look out." She met her eyes this time, "And I'm the oldest now. So I'm gonna keep you safe."

She finally saw Natalie deflate a little, and then shift herself back so that she was leaning against the wall like Kate. Then, she guided the two children over so that their heads were resting on her legs. Kate's heart was jack hammered in her chest, she had to keep these girls safe, no matter the costs.

Natalie gave one last long look to Kate, and merely whispered, "Okay." before she closed her eyes, sleep over taking her little body.

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><p><em>AN - Hope everyone is still liking the story so far. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, it really helps get me in the story mood, and I enjoy reading them. Here is Chapter 3, and everyone better get ready for the long haul, because I have lots of plans for this story, and ti definitely will be a while before Kate and Castle ever get to meet face to face, so hold on!<em>

_Disclaimer - the characters belong to Castle and it s creators, the song lyrics belong to Linkin Park_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_"It was too fast_

_Casting love on me as if it were a spell I could not break_

_When it was a promise I could not make._

_What if I was wrong?"_

* * *

><p>Sleep seemed to be an unwelcome guest in the Castle household on this night.<p>

There had been no question about where Alexis was sleeping, and she was currently still curled up next to Castle's side as he lay awake, eyes glued to the ceiling. She had already woken up once from a nightmare, but he had been able to quickly calm her down enough so that she was back in a fidgety sleep.

He couldn't seem to close his eyes though, couldn't seem to turn off his brain for one second, because every time he did, there was Alexis, screaming behind his eyelids as faceless captors threw her in to a van that then burst in to the flames from his very own hell. Or else it was this mysterious woman burning in her place.

Kate Beckett.

As he lay there, he wondered if it was short for Kathleen or Katherine and then berated himself for a thought so pointless. She was out there, right now, only who knows where. In danger. Probably hurt. And she had done this all for someone whom she didn't even know, a stranger. His hold on Alexis only tightened slightly, being careful not to wake her, not knowing if or when another nightmare would come.

Truth be told, he couldn't help but find himself pondering about who she was, what kind of person she was. He blamed the writer in him. But what kind of person just throws themselves in to an unknown situation, where they're outnumbered, to save someone they don't even know? Well, a cop, that's who. A good cop.

His unoccupied hand scrubbed over his face furiously as he lay mind numbingly awake. What could he do? All he wanted to do was something, anything to help.

He had not looked forward to calling Meredith and telling her what had happened, but he had felt some kind of obligation to, and the phone conversation had definitely gone both how he expected, yet not at all, at the same time.

Meredith had gone in to a frenzy within the first few seconds, but once Rick had assured her that Alexis was safe and unharmed, she had switched gears so fast it was almost like she had to muster up the energy to care about what had happened. Shortly after he put Alexis on the phone, Meredith had made some excuse about her movie or some acting thing and at least had the decency to tell Alexis she was glad she was safe before hanging up.

Thankfully, Alexis hadn't seemed too bothered by the phone call, and they had spent the rest of the evening in their jammies with a Star Wars movie marathon, complete with pizza for dinner. His mother had interrupted them about a quarter of the way through The Empire Strikes Back, and she had known something was wrong and needled the story out of him.

She was coming over tomorrow to spend the day with Alexis, and the kid did seem thrilled about it, and he would be too, so long as his mother didn't cook. He found himself wondering if she cooks – Kate – and if she cooks very well. Or what she makes, what's her favorite. It brought him snapped back to attention and to the horrifying reality.

This woman saved his kid, he owed her his life. He would have to find a way to help, if it was the last thing he did.

With the morning light came time to get up, and since it didn't seem that Rick was going to get any sleep anyways, he might as well make a nice breakfast for his family. His mom would be arriving in a couple of hours, and there was no doubt she'd be hungry.

The coffee tasted extra good as he sipped the bitter black taste, and while he was thankful for the caffeine, he was extra thankful that Alexis hadn't had anymore nightmares.

His thoughts, on the other hand, hadn't been able to stray from the events of yesterday, and in consequence, Kate. It felt strange to call her that, even just in his mind, almost like it was too personal. He had never met the woman before, and the first name just seemed so – intimate.

He sighed, scrambling the eggs in the pan and then turning his attention to flipping the bacon, he didn't even hear his daughter come out of the room until she spoke.

"You're up early." His hand immediately flew to his heart as he whipped around, his heart quickly quieting down as soon as he saw the little red head perched on one of the stools at the counter, her head in her hand.

The smile that lit up his face was very real as he walked around the space between them to wrap her in his arms from behind, chin resting on the crown of her head, "Just wanted to make you a nice breakfast."

A small giggle emitted from below him, but a timid voice followed after, "You couldn't sleep, huh?"

She was so perceptive; it never failed to astonish him. After a beat, he placed a kiss tenderly where his chin had rested, before going back to attend to his food. The silence stretched on for a while, the popping and sizzling the only soundtrack for their morning of mutual worry.

"I can't stop thinking about her."

He was extremely surprised to hear the words out loud, instead of in his head, and even more shocked that they hadn't come from him.

The plates were made up and he turned to set one down in front of her, her eyes downcast and her face red. Honesty was probably the best policy in this case.

"Me too, pumpkin." Her eyes lifted, finally, to meet his, and his heart knotted itself in his chest to see the tears glistening there.

"I wish we could do something." She sniffled, turning back down to her plate, her words small in the large space of their kitchen.

Rick huffed out a heavy breath, nervous for how much he and she were on the same level, "I know. I wish we could, too."

There was another silence, this time accompanied by the scraping of forks on plates. That was, until the shrill ring of the phone pierced through the air, and when Rick saw the caller ID, he hastened to answer it.

"Hello?"

_"__Mr. Castle? This is Mike Royce, we met at the crime scene yesterday_." The voice that greeted him from the other side of the phone sounded as sleep deprived as he felt.

"Yes, I remember, what can I do for you?" Castle had stepped away from the counter, but Alexis's attention dragged with him, her fork clutched in her hand.

_"__Well, I was going over my notes with the lead Detective on the case, and we had a couple more questions for you, if you wouldn't mind coming in."_

Rick's heart was in his throat the entire time he was speaking, and he leapt in almost before the officer was out with his sentence, "Yes, yeah, of course, it's no problem at all!" He cleared his throat and rounded back to the counter, Alexis's wide eyes never losing him, "Does Alexis need to come in as well?"

_"__No, that's not necessary, just you, Mr. Castle."_

He held up a finger for Alexis's questioning gaze, "Well, my mother will be in within the hour to be with Alexis for the day, so is it okay if I come in around 9:00?"

_"__Yes, that sounds fine, we'll see you then."_ The line disconnected immediately after, and Rick's heart was still in his throat.

Before he can put the phone down, or even blink, Alexis was already going off like a bomb, "Who was that? Was that someone from the police station? What did they want? Did they find out anything new? Is Kate okay?"

"Whoa, honey, slow down!" Rick puts is hands up in surrender as he settles down next to her on the counter, "That was officer Royce, and they haven't found out anything new, but they want me to come down to the station because the lead Detective has some questions."

Her eyes nearly bug out of her head, "You mean they want you to help?"

"Yeah, they—I mean, if you're okay with that, you gonna be okay?" Her little hands were already clutching his sleeves.

"Yes, Daddy, you have to help!" Rick was slightly surprised by her exuberance, and she was still chattering on, "Please, you'd be so good at it. You could help them find Kate, you write mystery books, and you research for them, you can help."

She had wound down slowly through her whole little speech, and when she was done she turned back to the plate in front of her picking at her food. Rick hated seeing her so down and unsure of herself, and he really hated the nightmares she was having over this.

"Of course I'm going to help, Alexis, I will do whatever I can for those officers and for Kate as well." He placed a comforting hand on her back until she looked up at him.

The sound of the stool scrapping back was the next thing he heard and then she wrapped her arms around him in a hug, the words of relief probably caught somewhere in her throat. Quickly, he pulled her in to the tightest hug he could manage without smashing her in to his body, almost wishing her could absorb her and keep her safe all the time. But since that wasn't a viable option, when he felt her slacken, he gently let her go, pulling her away so he could push some flyaway hairs back in place.

"So, you want to watch some more Star Wars until Gram gets here?" Her bright smile was all the answer he needed before he lifted her giggling form in to the air and towards the couch.

The ancient elevator was inching its way up to the fourth floor where he had been told by the burly man at the front desk that the Homicide floor, and Officer Royce, would be waiting for him.

Truth be told, he had blanched a little when the guy had said the homicide floor, and the word was still swirling around in his chest making it feel tighter and tighter. In retrospect, it made sense, no doubt a human trafficking ring would leave bodies behind, and the logic of it made it that last bit tight enough to squeeze the air out of his lungs.

The doors finally dinged open to a flurry of activity that made Rick's head spin a little bit. There was a blur of black uniforms, mugs filled with coffee, and tan folders full of information, and he almost felt nervous to step in to the frenzy, until he saw Royce and a few other officers gathered around a desk.

Royce saw him before he was even halfway over there, and he held up a finger to signal for him to wait while the detective – he assumes – in the chair finishes talking.

"—sent out APB's for those two we've got faces for, and a BOLO out on the car, although with their experience in this business, I doubt anything will come up." Castle listened intently, and he wished he had thought to bring a notepad and pen to jot some of this down, be able to remember it for later.

The detective got up from his chair and seemed to notice Castle out of the corner of his eye, but he kept on talking, "Now I want all of you to go down to areas where we've had girls taken before, keep a lookout. Club Warsaw was the last place where we know they did their work, but by the time we got there the place was clean like all the others. Make your way to any clubs we haven't heard him in that match similar criteria, club/bar with a downstairs space for a stockroom or what have you, and a private upper level."

At this pause in his speech, Castle raised his hand, thinking of something he had read once in research for one of his books.

The detective raised his eyebrows, and every head turned to look at him, "Um, yes?"

"It's just, I remember doing some research not too long ago for one of my books, and some of the really widespread trafficking networks who've had lots of locations sometimes double back and use some of their earlier spots because they figure the cops won't check them." It was strange to have all eyes on him, and once he was done, all eyes turned back to the detective, who was nodding in his direction.

"It's worth a shot," He turned to the uniforms again, pointing out two in particular, while Royce continued to have his eyes on Castle, scrutinizing him, "L.T., Foreman, go check out some of the first clubs where we know he did business from."

The officers dispersed and the Detective and Royce made their way over to him.

"Mr. Castle, this is Detective Montgomery, the lead on the case." He gestured between them and turned back to his boss, "Detective, this is Mr. Rick Castle."

The man held out a sturdy hand and gave him a brisk shake, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Castle. And thanks for the insight, while he's never doubled back before; it's always good to go back to the basics."

Rick gave a small smile, before he had to ask something, "I'm sorry, "He's" never doubled back before? I thought it was two, maybe three guys?"

The two cops exchanged a look, before Royce seemed to give the nod of approval, and the detective turned back to him, "Well the two guys we saw on the video are known traffickers, but they're in the inner circle of a guy we have only come to know as 'The Alpha'. He's the ringleader behind the whole operation, and we've never once seen his face, or heard his real name."

Rick was trying to file all of the information he'd received in these few short minutes in his head for later, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of guy went by 'The Alpha'. He was already a douchebag by principle, but that was just the cherry on top of the proverbial douche cream sundae.

"Now, Mr. Castle, we just have a few questions to clarify what happened the other night." Montgomery jumped in on his thoughts, bringing him back to the here-and-now.

Castle gave a nod and followed the two gentlemen in to what appeared to be a break room. He had already made up his mind though, no matter what it took, he was going to help this investigation, one way or another.

They went over what happened before and after the abduction for what seemed like an hour. Castle knew that these types of things were necessary for a thorough investigation, but Castle was beginning to feel like he'd repeated himself at least 3 times and that they were just going around in circles.

The author in him couldn't help but observe, and he noticed the dark rings and ragged features that seemed to have overtaken Royce since the last time he saw him. Stubble was growing on his cheeks and jaw, and there was a sort of bone-aching exhaustion that was settled in to his posture that didn't come from just a night of no sleep. Although, he supposed this wasn't really the time for sleep, not for him, not for Alexis, not for any of the officers, it seemed. He wondered about Kate.

"Mr. Castle?" Montgomery's voice was the one, again, to pull him back out of his mind, "I said, I think we have everything we need."

He stood abruptly and took the hand that was offered to him by both of the cops, "It's the least I could do."

Royce gave him a sharp smile, before he turned, but Rick was spouting out words again like a broken hydrant, he couldn't help himself, "Really, it's the actual least I could do. I want to help."

Montgomery's eye brows furrowed together to a point, and Royce turned back around to stare at him, "What?"

"Please," Rick took a step forward, holding his open palms up towards the ceiling, "I'd like to help with the investigation. My daughter is in fits of guilt over this, and to be honest, so am I. I've done research on plenty of areas of Criminology, and extensive research on human trafficking rings for a novel, and I've done plenty of ride alongs so I know police procedure. Just, please, I want to help."

His hands now dropped to his side as he saw the contemplation run across both of their faces, and while Royce's seemed a lot less willing, his eyes turned for the decision of his boss.

The detective gave a soft sigh, but a terse shake of his head, "Well, I suppose we could really use all the help we can get, right?"

Castle felt the breath leave his lungs in a rush of relief, and felt his insides harden in to the realization of what lay before him. He was going to find her.

* * *

><p><em>AN - I am so sorry about the long wait on this chapter! School just got in the way, and then I got a job over the holidays and the motivation to write this story just kind of got away from me, but now it's back and I've got the next five chapters all planned out, so it should be a pretty smooth ride from here on out. Plus I also have a really good general direction of where I want to go with this story. So, for the people still reading, thank you for your patience, I hope it was worth the wait!<em>

_Also, you can see that I took a couple liberties with some of the characters, I know that in the flashback, when he caught Beckett in the records room he was already Captain, but this is where I wanted to take the story!_


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